cs371p Spring 2020: Final Entry
To preface, this class is one of the best classes I’ve taken. Yes, some of the stuff may seem useless at one point or another, but the class teaches you to think about design and code in new ways, and I’m glad I was able to learn that here.
What did you like the least about the class?
I least liked the end of the workflow. I felt there was no value, at least for the class, to do astyle or doxygen other than knowing of them for the future. We never really learned about their usefulness in the industry, although Docker was a great tool to use.
What did you like the most about the class?
The lectures were my favorite part of the course. I remember looking down at my watch one lecture, and all of a sudden, there are only five minutes left of class. His lectures are very engaging and I enjoyed learning about the nuances of C++ and the reason why certain implementations were created the way they were.
What’s the most significant thing you learned?
I mean, C++, if that counts. Other than that, I learned how to think about designing code in a user-friendly manner
How many hours a week did you spend coding/debugging/testing for this class?
10 hours in the beginning and near 25 hours at the end of the course. Most of the time was spent on figuring out how to implement the project since there were really no specifications on how to do it.
How many hours a week did you spend reading/studying for this class?
About 30 minutes on a regular week to do the blog and read the paper. (To be honest, I didn’t study for this class that much.) During test weeks, probably around 3–4 hours to take the HackerRanks, write my cheat sheet, and study with a group.
How many lines of code do you think you wrote?
Maybe around 1500 lines? The first couple of projects were shorter, around 100 lines, and the latter projects were around 500 lines, plus the HackerRanks and test prep.
What required tool did you not know and now find very useful?
I don’t know if this is a tool, but understanding what a Makefile is and how it’s built and used was crucial for me to understand the workflow of the projects. I never really had exposure to building one before other than knowing to type “make build” when trying to install something. Now that I know what it is, it will help me when I’m looking at linker errors and build errors for other projects.
How did you feel about the two-stage quizzes and tests?
I think it was a good experience to have collaborative tests and quizzes. It was nice to know that I could redeem myself on the second try and rely on others if I didn’t know the answer and help others as well.
How did you feel about the cold calling, in the end?
Cold calling wasn’t too bad. Even if you didn’t know the answer, Downing will guide you through it. Unfortunately, I had mic problems when he called on me, so I didn’t know he couldn’t understand me. I cringed when I looked back at the recorded lecture…
Anwayy, Yeeet! I would like to leave you with this meme:
Peace out dudes. Till next time,
Lauren